Cuban authorities said Monday that four people were killed and six wounded aboard a Florida-registered speedboat after it entered Cuban waters and opened fire on a Cuban patrol vessel, an incident likely to sharpen already-fraught U.S.-Cuba tensions.
Cuba’s Interior Ministry said the wounded from the speedboat were evacuated for medical care, and the commander of the Cuban patrol was also injured. The ministry said the clash remained under investigation to determine precisely what happened.
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None of the dead or wounded on the incoming vessel were identified. Cuban officials said the craft carried Florida registration number FL7726SH. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Faced with the current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its commitment to protecting its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defence is a fundamental pillar for the Cuban state in safeguarding its sovereignty and stability in the region,” the Interior Ministry said. According to the ministry, the speedboat opened fire first, wounding the Cuban commander.
The confrontation at sea came amid a volatile policy backdrop. Cuban officials have accused Washington of seeking to cut off virtually all oil shipments to the island, deepening an economic crisis. At the same time, the United States has recently eased some restrictions: the Treasury Department said it would allow transactions “that support the Cuban people,” including Venezuelan oil for commercial and humanitarian use, provided the trade runs through private businesses and not Cuba’s state or military entities.
The policy shift was discussed as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders in Saint Kitts and Nevis, where concern has mounted over the social and economic fallout from Cuba’s shortages of fuel and basic goods. Regional leaders warned that a deeper collapse in Cuba could reverberate across the Caribbean.
“Humanitarian suffering serves no one,” Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said at the summit. “A prolonged crisis in Cuba will not remain confined to Cuba,” he added, citing the risk of destabilization and migration pressures.
Saint Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew called for humanitarian support and de-escalation. “A destabilised Cuba will destabilise all of us,” said Drew, a physician who studied in Cuba, noting reports from friends on the island of food scarcity, power cuts and trash piling up in streets.
While Washington has moderated some measures tied to humanitarian needs, decades of U.S. embargo and a recent tightening of pressure on Havana continue to frame relations. Monday’s incident at sea—still under investigation and with key details yet to be independently confirmed—underscored how quickly a localized clash can threaten broader diplomatic efforts to steady the region.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
